


Pushing You Away, Falling Together

by shiptoomuch



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: APUSH AU I PROMISED ACE, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, enjoy, lovelies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-16
Updated: 2013-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1006195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/pseuds/shiptoomuch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard Horatio McCoy, anti-social genius, hates Jim Kirk, baseball star and, coincidentally, genius.<br/>Leo has AP US History with said specimen and has come to observe the habits of the Greater Iowan Kirk. Sleeping, snacking, talking, and pencil throwing are just a few of the habits on a very long list of things that piss Leo off. Jim Kirk possesses not one, not two, but every single trait on the list.<br/>OR<br/>The one where Jim is annoying shit who might not be as shallow as he seems, and Leo is a little bit too judgmental.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pushing You Away, Falling Together

**Author's Note:**

> This is a 'verse that I came up with in disney world and it is a long story how it came to be. But I enjoyed writing it.

Leonard Horatio McCoy, anti-social genius, hates Jim Kirk, baseball star and, coincidentally, genius.

Leo has AP US History with said specimen and has come to observe the habits of the Greater Iowan Kirk. Sleeping, snacking, talking, and pencil throwing are just a few of the habits on a very long list of things that piss Leo off. Jim Kirk possesses not one, not two, but every single trait on the list.

Leo hates Jim because he doesn’t try. He hates the kid who is younger than everyone in all of his classes, yet he sleeps through all of them and talks and never pays attention or does his homework.

Yet he passes every single one of them. 

Leo hates James fucking-whatever-the-T-stands-for Kirk because threw a pencil at the back of his head during APUSH because he was ‘bored’ and Leo looked bored too, apparently. He was bored, but that isn’t the point. He hates Jim Kirk and refuses to be part of whatever shit he’s decided to pull now. Of course, he can’t actually see what’s happening since Jim was assigned to the seat behind Leo the previous day to discourage him from talking.

Maybe it’s petty, but Leonard Horatio McCoy really hates James T Kirk.

-

Leo sits in Honors Physics on Monday morning and with his face on the lab table, willing himself awake to pay attention in his least favorite class ever. He turns his head to the side and sees his teacher, Mrs. Carter, staring at him with crossed arms and pursed lips. “The bell hasn’t rung yet, I don’t have to be conscious.” He mumbles at his teacher, who smiles a bit before responding sweetly in her ‘troubled student’ voice.

“Mister McCoy, you’ve been having some problems grasping the material taught in this class.”

“Thanks for that, I had no idea.” Leo picks his head up off the desk.

“What I mean to say, Leonard, is that I think you could benefit from a peer tutor.”

Leo finds himself suddenly awake. “Well, alrighty, ma’am. If you insist. I’ll just ask my good friend Gai-”

“No, Leonard. I have already chosen a tutor for you. Meet your new tablemate and tutor, James Kirk.”

Leo bristles as his teacher gestures across the room to a blond head that turns when his name is said. Kirk grins and waves a bit before turning back around, apparently immersed in conversation with a severe looking dark skinned girl with a tight ponytail.

“He’s in this class?” Leo’s voice is dark. He hadn’t heard incessant chatting and giggling all of the first quarter of school and they were well into second quarter. Jim should have annoyed the shit out of everyone in Physics by now. So why didn’t Leo know Jim was in the class until now?

“Yes, Jim is one of my best students, actually. Very hardworking.” Mrs. Carter speaks with a tone sounds like a parent proud of its child.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Leo mutters under his breath as the bell rings to start the school day and Mrs. Carter walks to her desk and Jim sets down his books next to Leo at the black-topped table. He sits down on the stool and smiles in a way that Leo would call shy if he didn’t know any better. Leo remembers the manners his momma taught him, despite his hatred for this kid, and mutters a greeting to Jim and gets the response of a swift nod.

Jim focuses on Mrs. Carter’s rambling about sine and cosine and gravity. Leo tries to pay attention but soon gets lost in square roots and numbers that are far too nonspecific. He glances at Jim’s notes and realizes that Jim must actually care about this class.

Weird.

At the end of the class, Jim gives Leo a small wave goodbye and a promise to contact him with times for tutoring sessions. No smart comment, no shit-eating grin. 

Weirder.

Leo walks to his next class and on the way Gaila catches up with him in the hall. “I heard that you got sat next to that hottie Kirk in physics.”

“It has been two minutes how the hell do you know that?” Leo’s left eyebrow makes an attempt to join his hairline as he speaks to his friend while they make their way to English.

“Nyota texted me just before class. You hate that guy, God knows why, you hate that class, once again I don’t understand, how are you going to stand it for the foreseeable future?”

Leo ponders this for a moment before cracking a smile and batting his lashes at Gaila. “Well, missy, Mrs Carter seems to only be interested in me improving my grade. So if you help me, I won’t have to deal with Kirk at all.”

Gaila throws her head back and laughs. She shakes her head, bright red curls flying haphazardly. “Nope. Sorry, Leo. You’ve got a tutor who,” she levels him with a terse stare, “is really awesome. Also, I’ve got a girlfriend who I really really enjoy sleeping with. Tutoring your hopeless ass isn’t really cohesive to my plan.”

Leo groans and walks into english class. He sits in his seat next to Christine. Gaila sits on his other side. The two of them make lovey-dovey eyes at each other and Leo scrubs his hand across his face. “Ever since you two got together, my life has gotten worse. I need a tutor, Gaila.”

“You have a tutor.”

“I need a tutor who isn’t James T Kirk.”

-

Jim actually does help Leo out a bit. Or at least, he tries to. Leo doesn’t exactly want the kid’s help.

Jim offers to meet up in the library, Leo claims plans. He doesn’t have plans, though, and he suspects that everyone knows this. Jim surely does, from the disappointed look he gives Leonard every time he turns him down.

“Look, I’m supposed to be helping you. I was sitting by my friends but I gave that up to make sure you pass because I know you’re better than that. The least you could do is not be a dick and stop wasting my time.” Jim blurts at Leo one day right before the bell rings as Leo packs up his bag. 

It shocks Leo, to say the least. “Look, kid.”

“Don’t call me kid. I’m only a year and a half younger than you.”

“Look, kid, I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. Hell, if I never speak to you again, it will be far too soon.” Leo speaks bitingly and it makes his stomach churn a bit when he sees Jim physically deflate.

“I’ve watched you, Leo.” Jim stops and blushes at Leo’s questioning glare. “Not in a creepy way, promise. I mean, I’ve seen you around and I know you are not the kind of person to just deny help.”

Leo pokes Jim in the chest, hard, and sends the shocked teen stumbling backwards. “I don’t turn help down. Unless it is offered by someone I cannot stand. Which, in this case, means you. I don’t need help from you.”

“You do need my help. You got a D on your last test.” He smirks and picks up said test off of the desk. “Don’t act like you’ve got this. You don’t.”

Jim storms out of the classroom alone and sending off vibes of “Don’t fuck with me.” 

If looks could kill, Leo would be dead three times over from the death glare that Nyota Uhura leveled him with on her way out.

-

Leo spends the rest of the day as the subject of whispers and pointed fingers everywhere he goes. He never used to be noticed by anyone (except apparently Jim Kirk) so this comes as a shock to everyone who knows him.

It isn’t a very large group, but they are very surprised. Gaila and Christine laugh at him when he turns bright red from the stares.

“Does no one in this school have anything better to do than talk about me yelling at someone? This isn’t the first time it’s happened.” Leo looks directly at a group of freshman boys from choir, one of whom screams a little as they all quickly turn away and scurry across the cafeteria.

“The thing is,” Christine pops another salt and vinegar chip into her mouth and licks her lips, “This is the first time you’ve ever yelled at Jim Kirk. This is the first time anyone’s yelled at Jim Kirk and told him they hate him.”

Gaila walks up to their circular table in the corner of the cafeteria by the garbage cans and sits down. She scoots close to Leo and rests her head on his shoulder. “Well, no one since Janice Rand and she moved. So you’re pretty much the only member of that club.” She takes her head off his shoulder and scoots away from him. 

Christine laughs and throws her arm around Gaila’s shoulder. “Why did Janice yell at Jim? Did anyone ever find out?” Gaila suddenly goes stiff under Christine’s arm and starts coughing. “You know something, don’t you? Tell!”

Gaila coughs some more into her arm and turns her full charm on Christine. “You look really great today, Baby. How about we go back to my place tonight and I do that thing with the chocolate sauce.” She takes a strand of Christine’s blonde hair in between her fingers and bites her lip.

Leo can see Christine falling for it and he knows he has about thirty seconds before they start doing something that definitely would not be appropriate for school. “I need to get new friends. Friends that aren’t in a relationship with each other.” He grabs one of Gaila’s curls and yanks, hard. “Come on. I don’t give any semblance of a shit about Kirk, but your girlfriend does. I think you should probably not manipulate her like this.”

Gaila squints at him and furrows her eyebrows. She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “First of all, that hurt. A lot. Second, I promised him that I wouldn’t tell a soul. Janice made the same promise. Sorry, I love you both, but I am under an oath that I refuse to break. You might hate him, Leo, but trust me when I say he deserves to have this secret kept.”

Leo wishes he could say his breath didn’t catch and his mind didn’t start racing with countless possibilities.

-  
A groan and several whispered curse words interrupt Leo’s reading during APUSH the next day. He had finished his quiz in ten minutes and had taken the opportunity to catch up on the pleasure reading he never did.

And now Jim Kirk is having problems that are distracting Leo from his book.

He turns to look at Kirk, who is tugging on the collar of his leather jacket and tapping his pencil against his forehead. Leo nearly takes pity on the kid but then he remember that he hates Jim. So he turns around and picks up his book again.

Except it’s hard to immerse himself in the story of Dorian Gray’s shitty personality when there is a steady stream of curses followed by groaning and the scratch of pencil on paper.

Jim Kirk has been having some trouble in APUSH, Leo knows. After months of observation, he has come to be able to identify Jim’s tells when he’s stressed. Leo wants to help him because he is a person who sees the kid crying because he dropped his ice cream and buys him a new one. He might complain a bit about the time it took but in reality, he cares.

The thing is, he doesn’t want to care about Jim Kirk.

-

Jim has a routine every morning. 

He sets his bag and books down at their shared lab table, walks over to talk to Nyota Uhura, who Leonard is very much afraid of, and doesn’t come back until the bell rings and Mrs. Carter starts teaching.

Leo takes this period of Jim’s absence as an opportunity to help Jim. He takes the copy of his APUSH notes that he made the previous night and slips it into the stack of textbooks on the desk. He does this with a hammering heart, all the while questioning his intentions.

Kirk comes back to the desk and starts unstacking the text books, apparently in search of his Physics book. Leo nearly throws up, realizing he put the notes on top of the text book he’s looking for. Jim finds them and looks from side to side with a puzzled expression. He looks down again at the notes and sees the message that Leo had written on a whim.

“Stop swearing in my ear, dumbass.” Jim says quietly. His eyes go wide and he turns to Leo in shock. “Bones, is this yours?”

“Bones?”

“Uh, yeah. You said you want to be a doctor, not a physicist the other day when we were doing a lab. Sawbones.” He blushes and rubs a hand on his neck. “Here. I can’t copy your notes.”

“Look, kid. Don’t talk about it. You help me pass this damn class and we’ll call it even. I just don’t want to have to take this class again and you’re more annoying than you know in APUSH.” He turns away from Jim, shifting into his ‘don’t fucking talk’ posture, which shuts Jim down quite effectively.

-

The notes pass between the two teenagers for the rest of the semester without a single conversation beyond that first time. They make copies of notes and nod at each other in the hallway but never speak.

On the day of their last final before winter break, Leo is sitting in the library studying his ass off because he damn well wants an A in this class. His headphones are in and blasting some nameless song Gaila put on his ipod the previous week saying the lyrics “just spoke to her” or something like that.

He doesn’t even notice Jim until he cracks his neck and sees the most ridiculous face he has ever witnessed from across the library. Jim’s eyes are crossed and his tongue sticks out at an odd angle while he bares his teeth. Leo coughs loudly and receives a glare from the librarian.

Jim strolls over to Leo and ruins whatever it was that they had going. Leo knew it would happen eventually, that Jim would talk and remind Leo of why he hated him.

 

“Hey, Bones, you should call me sometime during the break. We could hang out or...something.” Jim laughs easily and thrusts a hand holding a slip of paper at Leo, who takes it with what he hopes is a smile.

“Um, sure.” Leo actually feels a small amount of happiness at this gesture and he doesn’t quite understand it, but he tries to brush it off. “Have a nice break, Jim.”

He sees Jim later in the cafeteria and, for some reason, starts walking towards the ball of blond energy. He opens his mouth to speak when Uhura and her boyfriend Spock join Jim at his table and immediately engage him in conversation.

And it isn’t that Leo doesn’t like Nyota. He actually thinks she’s one of the few sane people in the school. It’s just that she terrifies him. Cheerleading captain, NHS and student council president, top of the junior class, and completely perfect in every single way. She speaks five languages and is dating the kid who never has an expression besides apathetic and judgmental. 

So Leo turns around and looks for Gaila.

He hates himself for it, really. Leo isn’t sure why, but for some reason, the fact that he can’t just walk up to Jim and talk to the kid in the middle of the fucking cafeteria really bugs him. 

He knows Nyota hates him, too. He yelled at Jim and for some reason she was protective of the kid and never seemed to forgive Leo for doing it. Leo didn’t think that what he did was that bad but apparently it was bad enough to make Nyota Uhura, most powerful person in the school, hate him. Even if he really wanted to be friends with Jim (which he doesn’t, he swears) , he couldn’t be and that bugs him.

-

Leo does end up calling Jim over Christmas break when Gaila goes skiing with Christine. Leo doesn’t have any other friends besides the two girls and he knows Jim isn’t going to be protected by mother Nyota because she went to Canada with Spock, so he calls him. The whole time the phone is ringing, he considers hanging up because he hates Jim Kirk and this makes no sense whatsoever. 

“Hello?”

“Uh, hey? It’s Leo, Leo McCoy.”

“Bones! I thought I recognized your dulcet tones!” Jim crows over the phone. He laughs, “I can hear your eyebrow, you bastard.”

Leo realizes that his eyebrow did indeed shoot up and he attempts to relax his facial muscles and also not laugh at Jim. “Shut up. Hey, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out or something. My only friends are out of town and you did give me your number.”

“Wow, I really didn’t think you’d actually use it. Sure, Bones. Name the time and place. I’ll be there.”

They never go to Jim’s house, only to places around town or, as they do most of the time, Leo’s house to watch movies and eat junk food.

Leo hates to admit it but he actually enjoys himself. Jim jokes around and isn’t an asshole for once in his life. Leo wonders how many people actually get to see this side of Jim. This Jim who doesn’t talk about girls or parties constantly. The Jim that writes stupid notes and draws stick figures doing karate on his physics work.

On new year’s eve, they sit on the couch in Leo’s basement and watch the tv absently with a pizza between them. “Don’t you have some big party to go to, Jimmy?”

Jim cocks his head in confusion and wrinkles his eyebrows. “What?”

“Shouldn’t you be at Hendorff’s giant new year’s bash?”

“Nah. Cupcake’s an asshole. I’d rather be here, honestly.” Jim smirks and punches Leo lightly on the shoulder. Leo smiles tightly and wonders when he actually became friends with Jim.

“Surely there’s a girl you’d rather be with right now.”

Jim gives him a strange look and shrugs. He turns back to the movie and Leo is dying to know what the hell just happened but there is something in Jim’s posture that tells him that it might not be something he wants to know.

And that’s another thing about Jim. He seems so forthcoming all the time, but when it comes down to some things that might actually be important, Jim seals up and cuts himself off from everyone.

Jim refuses to take Leo over to his house.

Jim refuses to talk about girls or his other friends with Leo.

It should piss Leo off a lot, and if it were anyone else, it probably would, but he finds himself captured by this mystery hidden behind someone who previously seemed like a simple minded athletic idiot.

Leo catches himself staring at Jim more than once. He traces the sharp jawline, studies the blue eyes that vary in shade and intensity, he longs to reach out and touch the muscles that strain under Henley's and thin t-shirts. 

Leo realizes this is probably a sign that he should walk away but he finds he’d rather be just friends with Jim and constantly pining than to go back to what they were before, which was absolutely nothing.  
-  
Jim and Leo are actually talking like good friends when the second semester starts and it rocks the entire school. Jim Kirk being friendly with the guy who completely tore him down several months ago. It gets people talking.

And it does strike Leo as weird that Jim, the kid who always used to talk to everyone and anyone in his area, is now pretty much only talking to Leo in the classes that they have together. Jim seems to have latched onto Leo quite quickly and doesn’t show any signs of letting go. He sits with Leo at lunch, claiming the reason to be Nyota and Spock having a separate lunch period.

Leo laughs and thinks that Jim’s a bit like a golden retriever, when it all comes down to it.

At lunch about two weeks into the semester, Gaila won’t speak more than three words to Leo at the time and seems to be constantly looking for an escape route.

“Alright, Gail, what happened and why are you so freaked out by it?” Leo stares accusingly at his friend, who tightens her ponytail.

“Uh, well, Jocelyn called me last night.” She pulls her lunch out of her bag and glances at Leo under her lashes. “Going to be in town for a while.”

“Jocelyn?” Jim whips his head to look at Leo and his eyes are suddenly bright. “Well, if that doesn’t sound like a story. Ex-girlfriend?”

Bones laughs, throwing his head back. He puts his hand on Jim’s shoulder and meets his friend’s obviously confused face. “No, Jim, Joss is not my ex-girlfriend.” Bones shakes his head several times and Jim obviously relaxes for reasons Leo doesn’t even want to think about.

“Oh, well, I just assumed because of the way Gaila talked about her-”

“Jocelyn is my ex-boyfriend.”

Jim chokes on the bite of sandwich he had just taken Leo has to clap him on the back, laughing the whole time. “Boyfriend?” Jim finally manages to wheeze out.

“Yes indeed. Jocelyn Darnell. He used to go to Cedar Rapids High before he moved to Georgia for college. We were together for two years and then he left.” Leo nods and takes a sip of his water. 

Jim looks around, bewildered, and speaks slowly. “You’re gay?”

Leo nods and Jim and studies his friend’s expression. Suddenly, a fear he hadn’t experienced in years grips him when he can’t read exactly what Jim is thinking, can only discern a slight downturn to Jim’s lips and something unhappy in his eyes.

Of course Jim Kirk doesn’t want a gay friend. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Bones, I-”

“No, I get it. Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.” Leo puts his lunch back into his backpack.

“Bones,”

“Look, just-” Leo scrubs a hand across his face and tries to ignore the stinging behind his eyes, “Just don’t fucking say anything. I get it, you’re an athlete and I should’ve expected this. I never even meant to tell you.” He stands up from the table and throws his bag over his shoulder.

Jim stares at him with wide eyes before rising from the table himself and reaching out a bit before obviously thinking better of it and pulling his hand back toward himself.

“I’ll-ah-I will see you in physics, Jim. Thanks for keeping a loser like me entertained over break.” Leo turns away and walks as fast as his feet will fucking carry him from that table and from Jim Kirk.

Gaila stands up from the table and dashes after Leo. She catches up to him and grabs his shoulder, whirling him around. “You are a fucking idiot.”

Leo shrugs her off with a rueful smile. “Yeah, and?”

Gaila shakes her head and glares at Leo. “I cannot believe you, Leonard McCoy. You have no idea what you just did.” She walks away from him with a disgusted look on his face and Leo doesn’t find it all that surprising that Jim Kirk managed to take everything from him.  
-  
Jim’s eyes. 

Jim Kirk’s fucking eyes were so fucking confusing.

Leo hates that he cares so much about this stupid kid with stupid blond hair and stupid blue eyes. And he’s stupidly straight and Leo is stupidly in love with him.

Which, of course, means that Leo should never speak to him again. He should walk away from Jim and never look back at that sunny boy again because falling in love with your straight best friend is not advisable.

-  
Leo doesn’t talk to Jim for two weeks and everyone notices the difference. They had talked to each other publicly only for one day at school, yet everyone pairs them together and suddenly Leo finds himself the subject of stares in the hallway.

Jim finally corners him in the middle of the night.

Leo hears the knocking on the door and he grumbles angrily at the door before opening it and hoping his mother didn’t wake up from the noise. He gasps and shoots forward to catch Jim in his arms as the kid slumps and falls forward. “Jim? Jim!” He pulls the teen through the door and realizes that he is way skinnier than he should be. “Oh God, Jim, what happened?”

“I told ‘im.” Jim slurs and attempts to walk on his own, shrugging Leo’s arm off before stumbling and nearly falling down.

“Told who what, Jim?”

“Frank. I told that bastard that I’m bi and he didn’t take it too well.” Jim sits down on the couch in the living room with a thud when Leo lets him go.

“Your stepfather did this to you?” Leo turns around and starts towards the kitchen to get some ice and a medkit. “Jim, I’m going to go wake up my mom. We need to tell someone about this.”

Jim starts up off the couch before grabbing his head and slowing down for a moment. “No, Bones, please don’t. Please just let me sleep here and don’t tell anyone.”

Leo agrees against his better judgment and fixes up the cuts and bruises on his face before Leo helps Jim up the stairs and into his bed. He tucks Jim in and sits at his desk chair. The new information mixes itself up in his mind and Leo doesn’t know whether to be thrilled or enraged.

On one hand, Jim came to Leo in the middle of the night despite the fact that they haven’t spoken in two weeks.

On the other, Jim only came to Leo because his stepfather beat him and kicked him out.

He knows he’ll have to explain this to his mother at some point in the morning but for now he’s got Jim to worry about and he watches the kid sleep with a wrinkle in his brow. 

He doesn’t remember falling asleep in the chair, but he knows he must have when Jim wakes him up the next morning, poking his side insistently and staring at him. “Bones! Bones wake up, I’m hungry and your mom kinda scares me.”

Leo jerks forward and nearly falls out of the chair. His eyes fly open and he realizes exactly how close he is to Jim.

“Jim! You scared the livin’ daylights outta me.” He pushes Jim away gently and stand up. He tries, and fails, to stretch out his cramped muscles. “I hate you because you stole my bed.”

Jim laughs and Leo feels some of the anxiety that had made a home in his chest loosen. “Come on, kid, let’s get you fed before you die.”

They eat pancakes at the kitchen counter; Leo’s mother enters the room when Leo is at the stove. She strides over to her son and ruffles his hair before stealing a pancake and turning to face Jim. “So, you knocked on our door at one in the morning and here you are.” She steps forward and takes Jim’s chin in her hand. “Got in a fight?”

“Yes, ma’am. Some guys getting too handsy with one of my friends at a party.”

Eleonora nods and smiles fondly at Jim, who blushes under the attention. “Well then, if it were Leo coming in here looking like that, I’d kick him straight out. You get a free pass, though.”

Leo whirls around, spatula in hand, eyebrows skyrocketing towards his hairline. “Ma!” He turns and glares at Jim with fake anger. “I can’t believe you like this miscreant more than your own son!”

Jim flushes and ducks his head, studying his hands. He peeks up again at the two McCoys and he grins.

“What can I say, darling? It’s those damn blue eyes. Next time, though, please just come on in. There’s a key under the mat. That way you only wake up Leo.”

Leo scoffs and hands his mother a plate piled with pancakes before shooing her out to go to work at the hospital. He loads Jim’s plate before making himself a pile of pancakes and sitting down next to his friend. “I hope you like pancakes. You’re going to eat all of those and probably some of mine because honestly? I could count your ribs through your shirt when you fell on me last night.”

“Bones.”

“Kid, I don’t know what’s going on at your house and I’m pretty sure if I did, I would kill someone, but you should know Mom wasn’t lying. You’re welcome here anytime you need to be here.” He stares into Jim’s eyes that are almost too blue to look at directly and he hopes Jim gets the message.

“Bones, I don’t know if I can really go home, now. At least, not for a while.” Jim stares at his plate again, resolutely not looking at Leo and only focusing on cutting his pancakes into perfect triangles. “I’m sorry. I’ll find somewhere to stay. Nyota’s got a spare room.”

“I was a jerk.” Leo speaks suddenly and Jim’s head snaps up so quickly Leo thinks he probably pulled a muscle in his neck. “I’m so sorry, I just barged off and I had no idea. I thought you were just another jerk and you-you were just scared. I am so so-”

“Shut up.” Jim silences Leo finally by placing his hand over his friends. “Look, it’s fine. I understand how you’d probably think that. Don’t worry, it’s not a big deal.”

Leo stands up and strides over to the refrigerator to pull out some milk. He grabs the jug and puts it down forcefully on the counter, making Jim flinch a bit. “Of course it’s a big fucking deal! I abandoned you for two weeks because I was too caught up in my own life! Before that, all I did was tell you that you were an idiot and put you down. I told you I hated you. I cannot begin to comprehend how you would say that’s not a big deal!”

Jim opens his mouth and shuts it several times before slumping over and running his hands through his hair over and over again, one of Jim’s nervous habits. Leo notices that the kid is shaking and he immediately backpedals. “Shit, Jim. I’m so sorry. Dammit, I am such an idiot.”

Jim laughs and it sounds far too watery. “It’s fine, Bones. I just-” He looks up at Leo and brings a hand to his face, seeming almost surprised when he finds tears on his cheeks. His eyes are wide and searching, “I just know that you didn’t mean to hurt me, not really. I trust you, Leonard McCoy. It’s fucking scary, really, everything in my life tells me not to trust anyone, but I trust you and I have since sixth fucking grade.”

Leo takes a minute to backpedal in his mind to Jim’s sixth grade year, Leo’s seventh. He had just moved up from Georgia and hardly knew anyone. He doesn’t recall any interactions with Jim until sophomore year, honestly. He would never have crossed paths with the popular kid in the grade below him. Jim had always been surrounded by crowds of adoring fans, and Leo definitely didn’t fit into that category.

Except maybe Jim wasn’t always the popular kid.

On his third day at school he ran into a scrawny blond kid covered in dirt and scrapes and a bit of blood. The kid couldn’t open his locker and seemed so scared, so Leo had helped him. He opened the locker and took the kid to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and looking acceptable. He sent the kid on his way with a shout of “If you walk with your head up, people won’t beat you up so much, trust me!”

He never saw the kid again, to his knowledge.

Now, with Jim sitting in front of him, bruised, a slightly bloodied lip, and eyes that are so scared, Leo thinks he might run away at any sudden movement, Leo realizes that he did see that scrawny kid again. He pushed that kid away as much as possible before finally crashing into him with a full force impact. 

“You don’t remember, do you?” Jim blushes and tries to pull away from Leo.

“Of course I remember, idiot.” Leo does the only thing he can think to do. He grabs Jim’s face in his hands and pulls him in for a rough kiss. Their lips smash together and Jim hisses a bit in pain and recoils but Leo doesn’t let him go. Jim finally relaxes into and starts responding in full force exactly the way Leo always imagined.

His lips are warm and strong and when Jim parts Leo’s lips with his tongue, Leo swears it tastes like sunshine and Georgia peaches and everything that is right with the world. Tears slide between their faces and Leo isn’t sure whose they are, but he doesn’t really care. He pulls away for breath and rests his forehead against Jim’s. He can’t help but break into a grin to match his best friend’s.

“Well, there goes our friendship.”

Jim giggles, actually giggles, and pecks Leo on the lips. Once, twice, three times before pulling away and turning back to their plates of now-cold pancakes which have grown soggy from the syrup. “Eh. You always said you didn’t want to be my friend anyway.” He lays his hand on the counter and Leo takes a hint for once in his life and links their fingers together.

“No. I never really did want to be friends.”

-

They arrive at school on Monday and Leo can feel Jim’s pulse racing when he pulls him in for a hug. “Hey, we don’t have to do this, you know that, right?”

“We do have to do this, Bones. I could never put you through that.” Jim links their hands together and holds them up in front of Leo’s face. “I care about you, okay? I can get through a day of a few jerks. I’ll just keep my head up, like you told me.” Jim straightens up and squeezes Leo’s hand before walking into the building with his best friend (boyfriend?) and smiling proudly.

“I feel so lucky. I’m dating the baseball star. The most popular boy in school. All my middle school dreams coming true.” Leo mutters under his breath sarcastically and Jim cackles, bumping shoulders with him.

Nyota is standing by the main staircase waiting for Jim just like she does every day. Her face goes from cool but friendly to shocked and slightly enraged in a matter of seconds. Leo considers turning tail and booking it out of school. Jim tightens his grip further as if he can read Leo’s thoughts and he practically drags him through the crowd of mildly surprised students to Nyota. “Heyo, Spock.” He holds up his hand for a high five, which his friend reluctantly reciprocates. “Ny, you look lovely this morning.” He nods at Uhura, who scowls deeper.

“Why are you holding hands with this asshole? I thought you vowed you would stay away from him.”

Jim awkwardly rubs the back of his neck and scuffs his shoe against the floor. “Well, I suppose you two should get the news from us directly. We’re-we’re uh..” He looks questioningly at Leo.

“We made out at my house on Saturday morning and now we’re kinda dating, not that we’ve gone on any actual dates.” He hip checks Jim. “Why aren’t you treating me right, kid?”

“Well, I am so sorry, but I believe you are the southern gentleman in this situation.”

“Oh yeah, pull the Georgia card again. It didn’t work when Ma made fried chicken and it’s not going to-”

“Oh my goodness, shut up!” Christine’s voice cuts through their banter and they both whirl around in surprise, not having realized Leo’s friends (Gaila was technically Jim’s friend, too) had walked up while they were immersed in conversation. “Seriously, you bicker like an old married couple.”

Gaila claps and points excitedly at Jim and Leo’s linked hands. “Oh my goodness! I don’t have to keep the secret anymore, do I? This is the best day ever. Hey, Christine!” Christine turns indulgently to her girlfriend and arches an eyebrow in true Leo fashion. “Jim’s bisexual! Janice yelled at him that day not because he slept with another girl, but because Jim slept with another GUY!” She claps and jumps a few more times before calming down.

“Dude. Not awesome. Really not awesome.” Jim has turned bright red and Leo thinks vaguely that he’s never actually seen a human blush as much as Jim already has by 8:15 in the morning in one day. “Seriously, you could have just stopped at “Jim is bisexual” and not gone on to tell the story of how I was a jerk to my girlfriend.”

Leo rolls his eyes at his boyfriend’s (?) embarrassment before turning the topic of conversation away from the two of them and onto more important subjects, like, of course, Gaila’s failing grade on their most recent Physics quiz. “Even I passed it, Gail. That’s just sad.” Leo grins wickedly.

Gaila reels and launches into a rant about unfair grading, and invalid experimentation and other things that Leo doesn’t really care about, but which offer a pleasant backing track for Jim parting their hands only to rest his hand on Leo’s hip right below his shirt. He rubs circles into a small patch of skin there and leans into Leo slightly, using the older boy’s shoulder as a pillow.

And that’s another thing Leo’s noticed about Jim. If he doesn’t approve of or initiate the touch, he will run away from it. Leo has to wait for the blond to make the first move, ask Leo to hold him or kiss him before Leo dare make a move. He doesn’t mind really, it does, however, make him feel like a knife is stabbing through his chest when Jim flinches away from a touch on the shoulder or back. It makes Leo sad and angry because Frank, Jim’s fucking bastard of a stepfather, did this to a kid who shines like the sun and should never be anything but happy but he can barely stand to be touched, to be loved anymore.

Jim obviously notices Leo tensing up so he excuses them with the excuse that he has to go talk to Mrs. Carter before class about a lab they started on Friday. They walk several yards away before he pulls Leo aside and puts his hands on the back of his neck, pulling their foreheads together. “Are you okay? Do you need to not be public?”

“No. It’s not that at all. I was just thinking about what Frank did to you. It makes me so goddamn angry, you have no idea.”

Jim smiles sadly at Leo and pecks him on the lips. “Look, I know it seems really really freaking hard but I will get through it. I have you, Bones. I have something-someone-to live for now. I didn’t have that before. So help me God, I will come out on the other side of this intact.” 

-

It’s hard, at first, Jim is at Leo’s house more often than not and he shows up with his ribs and thighs covered in purple-green-yellow-black bruises that turn Leo’s stomach but that his mother deals with, pursed lips and sad eyes that Jim refuses to meet.

Frank receives divorce papers three weeks after that first night and he leaves Riverside in a flurry of curse words and broken beer bottles. It’s good, except when Jim shows up with a shard of glass in his cheek because one of those bottles was aimed at him. He stays with the McCoys after that. In a separate room from Leo, of course.

It turns out Eleonora contacts Winona at some point and Jim’s mother works as hard as she can for months to get a position near Riverside. She gets it several months after the divorce papers are finalized and she moves home. Jim glows when his mother finally comes home and says sorry. 

Leo makes himself scarce that day, not wanting to impede on any much-needed bonding, but finds himself sitting at dinner across from a woman that looks so much like Jim it hurts a little.

They eat dinner with pleasant conversation and Jim is made to do the dishes. Winona pulls Leo aside and speaks to him.

“You saved my son, Leonard.”

“It was your son who saved me, I think. Call me Leo, by the way.”

“Well, I wasn’t about to call you Bones like my ridiculous son.” She smiles softly and it looks identical and completely different from Jim’s own grin. Leo feels his anxiety loosen a bit. “I’m glad to hear that you care about him so much. Go get him, I’ll finish the washing.”

Jim drags Leo out the kitchen door and up a hill to watch the stars “just like in the movies, Bones!” They sit under a blanket and Jim radiates heat onto Leo.

“Look at the stars, they’re so fucking bright, Bones.” Jim rests his head on Leo’s shoulder.

Leo wraps an arm around Jim and pulls him closer to him. “Not as bright as you, Darlin’. You’re like my own personal sun.”

“That’s funny. I’m pretty sure I’m the one who’s always orbited you.”

And for once, Leo thinks that Jim is probably wrong about them. Leo knows that he’s orbited his sun from the first day they met, whether he realized it or not.

Jim glows under the starlight.

He’ll be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I may do more with this Jim and Bones, but who knows.  
> Tumblr: fabtrek  
> Feedback is appreciated!


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